Moving on

30. What's The Problem?

"Tell me again why you ordered a glass box?" Ari asks annoyingly. The whole time I was opening the package that arrived, she'd bugged me about its contents and now that she finally knew, she wasn't satisfied.

"Can you please leave?" I ask in agony. She was being so irritating and I just wanted some privacy honestly.

"Not until I know what the box is for. I mean, it's all fancy and important looking." Ari prods.

"It's to keep my jewelry." I huff in annoyance.

"Jewelry? What jewelry? You don't own any jewelry." Ari points out, confused.

"Jayce got me some and I just want to keep it safe." I mumble, opening my drawer to pull out the promise ring.

"OMG did he fucking propose?!" She whisper shouted.

"Are we just going to ignore the fact that you said OMG? Like you actually SAID the letters." I say with an eye roll. "And no, he didn't propose." I snap.

"This is insane. It's just a random ring? I'm supposed to believe that?" Ari asks skeptically.

"It's not a random ring. I made a promise to him and that's that. Now go away." I shoo her, closing my door.

I place the ring inside the glass box and admire its beauty. It's so delicate and expensive and I'm just scared I'll lose it if I try wearing it, so preserving it in the box seemed like a good option.

-

"Hey bae. You look sharp as always." Jayce winks, lacing our hands together as we walk to the cafeteria.

"Thanks. I'm feeling pretty sharp, so that helped." I admit, smiling brightly. My face honestly hurt from smiling too much lately. Is that even possible? I'm asking that, yet it already happened.

"But, there is something missing." He says, looking closer at my hands.

"What?" I ask.

"Maybe a certain ring?" He asks expectantly.

"Oh, I uh, yeah I didn't wear it." I say awkwardly. He frowns and looks disappointed.

"But, it's because I-

"It's okay. You don't have to explain." He cuts in, rushing off to class. Will that definitely could've gone better.

-

"Can we please talk?" I say after school.

"Look, I already told you that you don't have to explain." Jayce says, brushing me off.

"Clearly I do." I snap, grabbing his arm firmly. He looks at me and chews on his gum as a distraction. I can tell he's kind of afraid of my answer.

"I love the ring Jayce. A lot. But, I'm not good with jewelry. I always lose it so-

"I get it." He cuts me off. I huff at the rudeness.

"Let me speak will you?" I ask. He turns sheepish and apologizes.

"Come with me." I say, telling him to walk home with me.

When we get to my house, I lead him upstairs to show him the glass case and that the ring was there and not just in some box somewhere. He looks at it in awe, and I'm glad because that case wasn't cheap.

"I'm sorry." he says finally. "I just thought that-

"I know." I say, cutting him this time. See how he likes it. He smiles and pulls me in for a kiss. I give in and kiss back, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Gross, quit sucking face." Ari calls, walking past my room. I pull back and shut my door, embarrassed.

"Sorry." I say, collapsing on my bed.

"You know, I'm sure if you wore the ring a few times, you'd learn to be more responsible and I know you wouldn't lose it." He tells me, holding my hand. I relish in the feeling.

"I don't know."

"Promise to try? For me?" he asks.

"I-okay Jayce. I'll try." I say, hugging him. I just loved the feeling of him. He proposed that we go see my 'dream house' again for old times' sake and I happily agreed. Animal control took the dog away to be euthanized and while I thought it was a good thing, Jayce thought it was cruel. On the way, Jayce and I started bickering about the dog. I personally hated that people didn't want animals to be put down if they attacked humans, but Jayce disagreed and said it was extreme to take an animal's life for something like that. The bickering soon turned into full on arguing.

We had ignored it whilst checking out the house, but on the way back home-

"Animals have rights too Skye."

"I didn't say they didn't Jayce! I just think a human life is more important. You're being ridiculous!"

"M-me?!" He sputters. "You're the one that clearly doesn't care about animals!"

"I do damnit! But that dog could've killed that human that ended up in the hospital!" I reason.

"So if I punch someone in the face, I should die? Because I technically am able to kill someone." He says, glaring.

"That's different!" I say.

"How? How is that any different?!"

"Because you're a human and we are not animals, therefore shouldn't be compared to them!" I snap.

"You know what? Your opinion is stupid." he says flatly.  He's been on edge lately and I wish I knew why, but he was being secretive about it.

"Yeah? Well yours is dumber because you don't seem to care about life and death when it comes to humans, but an animal? Noooo. Well you're not changing my opinion so drop it." I say, done with the conversation. I see my house and mumble a bye to him, running to it. He doesn't say bye back and that hurt a bit more than it should've.